had a buddy with a tesla model 3 who told me an interesting story of when he was rear ended earlier this month. the towing part is what want to primarily highlight.

traveling on the hwy, traffic slowed down from about 80 to 25mph but the tundra following him did not slow down in time and tagged him almost square but pretty hard to where it disabled both vehicles. airbags deployed on the tundra, leaking coolant. the tesla did not look as bad but all the electronics started to shut down upon impact. thankfully his reaction time and momentum was enough that he was able to swerve around the car in front and limp to the emergency lane before the screen and car went completely dead. both parties were fine but received some bruising and muscle aches.

upon attempting to tow the model 3, my friend said that since nothing worked the car could not get into tow mode and the tow truck driver had to drag the car onto the flatbed - tires locked solid! getting it on the flat bed was the easy part but as you can imagine offloading it is another story. the tow truck driver was unsuccessful to get the computers to restart despite getting into the frunk (apply 12V to the terminals inside the front tow hook cover) and charging the 12V battery near the windshield cowl. he could not get the car off the truck after a 2 hour attempt so he ended up taking the car to the tow yard defeated.

since my buddy used his cell phone as his key the car could not be accessed unless he was there, plus he could not find the credit card key from tesla. days later the insurance company was able to get the 12V battery charged enough to get the screen on to get the car into tow mode. just like the fire department adjusting their tactics to battle EV fires, it would be just as appropriate for tow companies to train their tow truck drivers on how to properly tow an EV like the model 3. this model was not a dual motor so i was thinking they perhaps could have used go-jacks on the rear wheels, but that could be too unsafe.

to close the story, the insurance company deemed the model 3 a total loss. they stated the body damages were minor but only tesla would be able to get the electronics back up and running which would be the bulk of the repair expense pushing the insurance company to draw the line.

sidenote: i'm pretty impressed how the tesla performed on the crash vs the tundra. the CHP officer told my friend if it was regular car it would be half the size!

 

High voltage battery is automatically disconnected (giant fuse type device) in the event of a crash I'm guessing this is the case with all electric vehicles. Tesla's have extremely rigid chassis I watched Arthur Tussik (YT channel) try to repair the front of a crashed Tesla he had a very difficult time trying to straighten the aluminum rails. I think Tesla keeps a list of tow companies that are up to speed on EVs.

Any crash you walk away from without injury is a success cars can be replaced.

 

looking at the tundra picture , I thought the model 3 would look much worse. surprised. did the Tesla got totaled?

 

I've seen a ton of accidents pics on the forums with very bad collisions and the Tesla drivers almost always walk away with minimal injuries. Its one of the highest rated safety vehicles on the planet with generous crumple zones back and front. When a Tesla gets hit bad, the pyro fuse blows which needs to be replaced before the car can be restarted. In almost every case, if the pyro fuse blows, the car is totaled anyway. Yes cars are heavier these days but that is a minimal price to pay for such improved safety.

 

This is expected with all EV's, the high voltage battery is disabled to turn off all electronics and prevent fire. All EV's have to be towed on flatbeds. Both my Hyundai and my Polestar have numbers you call if the car is disabled, needs towing etc. Also my insurance company (Geico) knows which tow trucks to send

 

i was surprised as well. yes the insurance company totaled the car.

 

not surprising the truck took a lot of the damage. it's probably lighter than the model 3.

 

On the repair channel note, bent aluminum shouldn't be pulled back in shape - unless it's purely decorative.

As long as the batteries and motors can be reused, a "total" should not be that big of a deal. Reality obviously differs but anyways - having to design your passenger & battery compartments to be extremely rigid is another EV advantage.

 

That guy is extremely skilled but his repair methods may be considered compromising the structure, how much is difficult to say. If you want to learn how vehicle bodies are made and assembled he's the man to watch.

 

not suprised insurance "totaled" anything that has a dent in it, it's cheaper to pay you some crumbs to have you go away than to fix your car.

 

No doubt about his skills and expertise. That said, in this particular field (restoration/body repair/reconstruction/whatever you wanna call it) it's a very good idea to read multiple takes on the issues - from other channels, OEM crash repair info (preferably with reasoning - mostly found in bulletins, not the actual instructions), specialized welding forums & etcbefore forming your own opinion. There is no one right way to do this stuff. Sorry for the mental dump, just wanna make sure that anybody who's looking (and in need of) that sort of thing takes his time to research it from all angles. Saves a lot of headaches down the road, might introduce quite a few as well but... "proper" car restoration is kind-of like that

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...this-time.html

Imagine what this'd cost to be done properly. Where I live, sure - can probably be fixed properly* for way cheaper.

*if you can find an actual proper paint shop and collision shop that isn't booked for two years in advance, no kidding

 

how much was the payout? Was it reasonable?

 

it's still being hashed out but i will let everyone know if i get the info. he is considering buying the car back if reasonable, and having it repaired as an option.

my buddy is quite concerned he will not get what the car is worth (in today's market), and is dreading having to shell out more for a replacement (likely not an EV to his choice).

 

Hopefully he has gap insurance which will cover what he owes. Geico the insurance I have doesn't pay based on book value but on what the same year vehicle is selling on the market. In 2012 my wife totalled our 2004 Sienna that had 145K on it, we were expecting around $4,000 which was the low book value, but Geico gave us $11,000 which was what dealers were selling this same model for on their lots. We ended up buying a 2013 Sienna, I put $1K down at 0 percent financing and I put the other $10K in an investment that was paying 3 or 4 percent

 

Tell him if it doesn't meet market value, to not accept the offer. I've known people to negotiate this if they have proof of what the same car will fetch in their local market and usually, the insurance company of the other driver (who is at fault) will pay. Especially if you start complaining that you are having physical issues from the crash. If you see the used values on Teslas, he should get almost the full new price of a Model 3 as the used market is nuts right now. They will play hardball but if he has proof of values in his market, he should get what he wants.